Computing and network technologies have transformed many aspects of everyday life. Computers have become household staples rather than luxuries, educational tools and/or entertainment centers, and provide individuals and corporations with tools to manage and forecast finances, control operations such as heating, cooling, lighting and security, and store records and images in a permanent and reliable medium. Networking technologies like the Internet provide individuals virtually unlimited access to remote systems, information and associated applications.
As computing and network technologies have evolved and have become more robust, secure and reliable, more consumers, wholesalers, retailers, entrepreneurs, educational institutions and the like are shifting paradigms and are employing the Internet to perform business rather traditional means. For example, today consumers can access their bank accounts on-line (e.g., via the Internet) and can perform an ever growing number of banking transactions such as balance inquiries, fund transfers, bill payments, and the like.
Typically, an on-line session can include individuals interfacing with client applications (e.g., web services) to interact with a database server that stores information in a database accessible to client applications. For instance, a stock market web site can provide users with tools to retrieve stock quotes and purchase stock. Users can enter stock symbols and request stock quotes by performing mouse clicks to activate a query. Client applications can then query databases containing stock information and return appropriate stock quotes. Users, based on returned stock quote information, can thereafter purchase or sell stocks by supplying suitable information, wherein submitting buy or sell orders initiate database queries to return current pricing information and order status.
Based on the ever-increasing use of the computer and/or the Internet, numerous transactions related to goods, services, and/or commerce have become common place. Furthermore, many features and characteristics associated with a traditional in-store (e.g., brick and mortar) transaction are available to consumers online using the computer and/or the Internet. For example, websites offer numerous payment methods (e.g., check, cash, cash on delivery, credit card, third-party payment services, etc.), goods/service details (e.g., informative brochure, user guide, instruction booklet, warranty information, etc.), images, views, customer service, returns, exchanges, rewards programs, and incentive coupons/discounts. With respect to coupons and/or discounts, there is a common deficiency in which such coupons and/or discounts are not being utilized in a fair manner.
Such unfairness is highly exposed in connection with online auction environments. Since the coupon and/or discount may not be offered to an entire bidding pool within the online auction environment, the good or service being auctioned may not be evaluated at a true market value reflective of the bidder(s) with coupons/discounts. For example, a person with a coupon will have a slightly higher price evaluation of a good or service since the coupon will give a discount. Thus, if a person normally values a good or service at ten dollars, a coupon that gives one dollar off will raise the evaluation of the good or service to eleven dollars (e.g., the total bidding price would still be ten dollars with use of the coupon). In other words, individuals with coupons and/or discounts typically have an unfair advantage in the online auction environment which is counter productive to identifying a true fair market value of a good or service. Additionally, the unfairness of such coupons and/or discounts is present within an advertisement auction setting since advertisements are typically sold on the Internet using a spot market and/or auction technique.